Roemer, who hasn’t held a single fundraising event, said that he’s amassed nearly $1 million in contributions from 130,000 individual donors and qualified for matching funds. That’s more than Paul’s 80,000 contributors, and more than the rest of the candidates put together, he proudly adds, complimenting the Texas congressman while noting that they have some “fundamental differences” as independents, such as on foreign policy.

“It comes from disenfranchised Americans,” he said. “And I’m beginning to speak for them without changing my speech at all.”

While we’re waiting to cross a street, Roemer tells me about former President Reagan’s advice to the young congressman during his House tenure, from 1981 to 1988. Become a governor, Reagan advised, before shooting for the White House.

“Normally you’d do it with a poll, you’d survey people; I didn’t do any of that. It’s not as a result of demand,” Roemer frankly said of his candidacy. “This was personally driven: my observation as the only person in this field who’s been a congressman and a governor as to what’s wrong with the system.”

Supreme Court rulings aside, he proudly notes, he voluntarily decided to not take special-interest checks. “And I don’t have any evidence that this can work,” he said. “It’s a powerful little movement. But it’s little right now.”

Roemer beamed whenever we spoke of the 40th president, noting his immense respect for Reagan and how much the commander in chief taught him. “When he spoke to me it was always with kindness and appreciation,” he said. Other favorites who have served in the Oval Office are Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Obama, he said, is a “disappointment” because of the “lack of leadership on campaign finance reform, tax reform, budget reform, immigration reform, trade reform. He’s non-existent on any of them. … The thing he hasn’t done is change Washington.”

Roemer also slams Obama for “his immaturity at leadership,” such as telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on an open mic that he would have more flexibility on the missile defense shield after the election. “He wouldn’t tell the American people that,” Roemer said. “He think we’re fools!”

“He wants to be friends with Putin,” he added. “He’s an immature leader. I’m embarrassed by it. … And it’s dangerous. I’m going to warn the American people in that first debate — be careful of who you elect. Be careful because Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama might be different after the election than they are before.”

Obama will be “less effective in his second term.” Romney would be “competent” as president, Roemer said, but “not visionary, not reformist. It would be a marginal move to the right. Not much progress.”

“Mitt Romney’s a one-percenter and Newt is his lobbyist,” he charged. He said Romney received so much primary resistance because voters “see it — that’s not them, they can’t relate. They relate more to Obama. Doesn’t mean they’re going to vote for him, but they relate.”

“They look at Romney as a politician — not a very experienced one; an awkward politician,” Roemer said. “They look at Obama as a politician. They look at them both as politicians.”

Vice President Joe Biden, who has been hitting the campaign trail with stories of his mom and pop, shows he’s “trying to be a human, trying to be a man of the street. Biden comes closer to the average guy than the other two do. And they’re using that — Biden is a skilled politician.”

Since his goal is getting to the presidential debates, Roemer got a bit of warm-up when I hit him with a lightning round of issues.

ObamaCare: “Unconstitutional. Needs to be replaced with medical reform. … I think we need to lower the cost of healthcare.”

Syria: “That’s a place for the United Nations, that’s a place for alliances, but it’s not a place for American troops.”

UN Human Rights Council: “It is a farce. … Libya was president. I haven’t given that a lot of thought, but it needs to be changed.”

Global warming: “The evidence is that the globe is warming. What is not as clear is what’s causing it. But I think we need to be safer. I think we have to reduce our carbon emissions. And I plan on a natural gas initiative that does that. … China’s gonna be the problem, but we need to take care of America and I think natural gas does that. … The evidence grows that fracking is the way to go, below 5,000 feet, do it deep, do it safe, and make us free.”

Buffett Rule: “It’s not enough that the code be fair. It’s got more loopholes in it; we need the code to be fair and progressive and we need to start with simplicity. … I would clean up the tax code. It is the biggest first step we can take to growing jobs in this country. The Buffett Rule, it won’t raise any money. What we need is tax reform and Obama won’t’ suggest that because his buddies all get tax breaks. It ought to be called the Obama rule. He paid less than his secretary.”

DREAM Act: “I can differentiate between parents and their children when it comes to an education. If the parents are living here undocumented and illegally, I think they ought to generally be sent back home. But until they do, we ought to educate their children just like we would any other person. But I’m a little more stringent on cleaning up undocumented workers. I don’t think the current situation is healthy for anybody.”

Debt: “Federal spending is out of control and that will be one of the leadership things I’ll do after House Bill 1. … I’d like to bring spending down to 18.5 percent. I can’t do it overnight, it would hurt the country, but I’ll have a five-year plan that I will submit to Congress that will do it. … It will include entitlement reform.”

Our late food by this point highlighted a dilemma I’d never thought about through my years in Washington: Can you ever leave a paltry tip to reflect bad service when one person at the table is trying to get votes for president? When the chips and cheese finally came, Roemer gamely let me tweet a photo of his nacho-eating.

The governor talked about how he hops on the computer late at night to play fantasy baseball. “I’m a baseball guy because I’m small and the only sport I could play was baseball — second base,” he said. “I have the only dog in America named after Earl Weaver,” former manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Roemer is also a voracious reader who is always thumbing through a book. “I’ve lost two Kindles and I can’t afford to get another one,” he said.

What he obviously hasn’t lost is the determination to keep pressing through until November, despite what the final result may be.

“This is an election. This is not an anointment. This is not a coronation,” he said. “This campaign hasn’t even started to run yet.”

“These boys better watch out, Obama and Romney,” Roemer stressed. “Because I think the country is in serious trouble. … I will go anywhere, anytime to say these truths. And I’m gonna keep it up until I’ve got no money left or no hope left.”

Bridget Johnson is a veteran journalist whose news articles and opinion columns have run in dozens of news outlets across the globe. Bridget first came to Washington to be online editor at The Hill, where she wrote The World from The Hill column on foreign policy. Previously she was an opinion writer and editorial board member at the Rocky Mountain News and nation/world news columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News.
She is an NPR contributor and has contributed to USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, Politico and more, and has myriad television and radio credits as a commentator. Bridget is Washington Editor for PJ Media.

Click here to view the 40 legacy comments

Click here to hide legacy comments

40 Comments, 25 Threads

1.
PattyMor

Buddy Roemer is the Ross Perot for 2012. He’s designed to syphon off just enough votes to allow Barack to be reelected. Don’t fall for this ploy. Whether you like Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate, if you dislike where Barack is taking the country, you must vote against Barack by voting for Romney.

Roemer may get some of the Ron Paul votes out there, but all he’ll do is take votes away from the Republicans. It will make Romney’s job that much tougher and Obama’s job that much easier to get elected. So stay away from this guy, unless you want four more years of what we have now. Who knows, maybe Roemer will be the next John Anderson (remember him), where his run for president didn’t matter at all in 1980. But why do we need to take the chance? The choices in this election are so distinct and the results of this election are going to be so monumental, that I think most people will come to their senses and vote Republican. I hope.

“Running on a strict campaign-finance reform platform”
Because that’s the most pressing issue of the day.

I’ve voted Libertarian since 1980, until 2004, a certain event in 2001 has made me preclude voting in protest. Now the only thing for me is getting out of office a guy who has a marxist world viewpoint.

If he is the leader the country so desperately needs right now remains uncertain- what is certain is that he represents a growing number of productive people who understand that neither Romney or obama have the desire or will to do what is imperative to sustain our nation. The two parties have become locked in nothing more than a power struggle devoid of principle. People who support both parties right now do so on the basis of emotion not facts.

If I were going to cast a protest vote this year, I sure as hell wouldn’t waste it on Buddy Roemer.

Besides, I can live with Romney if it means getting the Obama, who is very likely the absolute worst and most destructive President in US history, out of the White House before he can wreak even more havoc without another election hanging over his head to restrain him.

WOW, all these people that are complaining that he will split the vote from Romney so Obama will win. This is funny, because I can find as many articles of the Dems complaining that all he will do is split the votes from Obama so Romney will win. I see both sides shaking in their boots, worried that he will take equal amounts from both sides, and all the other intelligent voters that want to pick a President, not a Party into office. Take off your party blinders and see that he is the most competent person running.

No I dont work for him, I live in Nebraska. I would never vote for that egotistical 1% er, Romney. He it’s so lost on how we live in the real world. Pull your head out of the GOP’s backside, and think. Obamney are exactly the same, you think it will be any different, you are a fool. Obama needs to go, and Romney just needs to go back to one of his multiple houses, and burry his head back in the sand.

“Head… in the sand,” you say. Speak for yourself. Anyone who considers Obama & Romney to be one & the same is so far removed from reality, one can be sure their head is in some place where the sun never shines. It’s time for you to come up for air.

I told you to pull your head out of your Republican a$$. Out of touch “I’ll bet you $10,000″, who is out of touch, Mitt, thats who. He is no better than Obama, show me the money, I will do what ever you want.

Once again you are wrong, the article is about a no chance nobody on a vanity campaign to hurt the country and make himself feel like a big man. If you want that then go ahead and be pure and destroy the country.

You people make me sick, you’re like spoiled children who, when they don’t get their way, sulk and go home crying. You supposedly want perfection but you’re never satisfied with anyone who can win. Screw all of you, losers who excuse losing by holding out for perfection.

An inquisitive alien visits the planet to check on our progress as a species, and gets into a conversation with the first person he meets. The alien discovers that we live under the rule of a thing called “government”, and wants to understand more about what “government” is, what it does, and why it exists. Government Explainedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EUS1m5MSt9k#!

I am a little more concerned with John Stossel and Judge Napolitano vowing to vote Gary Johnson for president if Paul does not run 3rd party. These 2 men have a loyal following of Libertarians which could generate a lot more votes than Nader. This maybe a very hard climb for Romney.

As much as I would prefer a true libertarian as our next president, a third party run that would siphon conservative votes could mean re-electing Obama. I am not all that fond of Rommeny but I could live with a Rommney presidency. Obama must not get re-elected. I fear he will make himself president for life! Re-electing Obama is re-electring George Soros!

The time to go public screaming foul was months ago. We already have an ineffectual cry-baby in the White House. Once bitten twice shy. I naively voted for Ross Perot and got Slick Willy Clinton. Never again! A vote for Roemer is a vote for Obama, and Roemer KNOWS THAT!!!

“Other favorites who have served in the Oval Office are Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy”.

I really don’t see what all the whining and crying is about with this guys candidacy. He IS just another big government progressive as evidenced by his presidents list. I would think he would bring just as much damage to one statist party as he would the other.

Either way we will get what Americans really seem to want. The socialist status-quo.

I like him, but I won’t be voting for him. I agree that he should have been allowed to debate, after all in some polls last fall he was ahead of Santorum. I also like the idea of campaign finance reform. Many Republicans oppose this, but they’ll think differently about it when they learn that Obama is going to outspend Romney.

If Buddy had gotten the GOP nomination I would have been happy to vote for him. As it is, I find myself having to vote against someone by voting for Romney. I like voting for people rather than against other people but what can I do?

Rohmer would have been a fine candidate for President. Unfortunatly, he’s just another spoiler.

MarcH hit the nail on the head. Ross Perote for 2012. I have no doubt that the money for this comes, via an untraceble route from George Soros, BHO’s lord and master. Obama can’t win a fair fight. the left is pulling out all the stops to ensure there isn’t one,

If you would like to learn more about Buddy Roemer, go to this website and read the comments by Buddy’s supporters and a critic. Also examine the web pages they cite, which will provide you with independent analysis.

Obama is not able to win this election; however, the Republicans are quite capable of losing it. Of course, folks like Roemer and others may contribute to the Republicans’ loss, but this election is the Republicans’ to lose.

Given its association I’m surprised that Roemer would use the “broom” analogy. Maybe he thinks people don’t know or remember Huey Long, an infamous member of a long line of colorful Louisiana governors, whose supporters used brooms to symbolize their belief that Long would sweep away political corruption. Of course, once Long attained office he happily resorted to pay-to-play schemes and cronyism to consolidate and grow his power. I’m deeply suspicious of any politician who uses the broom image with a straight face.

Studying Long’s career gives great insight into the populist playbook. Obama, in his current populist incarnation, must be very familiar with Long’s retrograde methods because he readily employs them in his dishonest “share the wealth” rhetoric and insistence that “public works” projects are a pathway to prosperity.

A political void is staring We the People right in the face. And nature hates a void. Enter everything peripheral to America’s political process…including Ross Perot, left, right, center, independent,et al.

Who created this void? Why, of course, none other than We The Elite People of culture of corruption in Washington DC. This is purposeful, deliberate and calculated…Greed and Power. Pure and simple.

See, MSM, DNC, RNC, and Wall Street are united in their strategy to gerrymander everything American in their favor. Need Proof?

O.K. Let’s start with RNC’s deliberate attempt at putting on a kabuki theatre presentation for We The People. A host of “also rans, has beens and maybe cans” was aligned against Romney (hand picked by Priebus for nomination). The “Punch-and-Judy” phase of this dog-and-pony show got out of hand…enter planted innuendoes, lies and outright smears (by RNC operatives). This didn’t stop Newt, Santorum and Paul from staying the course. The final cabosh came with “SuperPacs.” Massive amounts of cash just stifled everything “anti-Romney.” Where did this come from? Yep, you guessed it…RNC.

“And the beat goes on, la-de-dah, and the beat goes on.” The void, generated, perpetrated deliberately, by We The Elite People of culture of corruption in Washington DC, is still there for all to see…and no one American there to fill it. God Bless America. Paul Revere is really riding very,very hard. Heed his call. Amen.

I find it very interesting that the myth that Perot elected Clinton still lives on when all facts and data prove otherwise. Perot drew equally from Democrats and Republicans 38% each and the rest of the vote were Independents and first time voters and disenfranchised voters who do not vote. All data shows that even if Perot was not in the race Clinton still would have won the election. Perot did not win any electorial votes so it is impossible for Perot to shift any election period based on the ectorial system. All data shows that those Republicans and Democrats who voted for Perot would have went back to their respective party’s. Bush 41 never lead in any polling throughout 1992 polling in any polls period. If you go through the 1992 Presidential debate contract by Bush 41 and Clinton. It was Bush 41 who demanded Perot be included in the debates to take votes away from Clinton. The Bush adminstration and Republican Party knew this the entire time. They needed Perot to take votes away from Clinton or he would have lost by a larger percentage. This data is archived and publically availible but never used except by a few. With Obama and Romney the ideaology is the same. You have Obamacare and Romneycare, the largest contributor to both campaigns is Goldman Sachs. Neither is talking about prosecuting the control and accounting fraud comitted by Wall Street and the Banks. The same circle of people will gain positions in DC no matter which one of these two are elected. With this nation struggling with a $15.6 Trillion national debt, $454 billion had to be borrowed just to pay the interest on the debt for last year, endless wars, corruption is the norm, record setting trade deficits, unemployment is the norm and the list is endless. The sad part is that the discussion is about hate and ideaology and not about solutions to our nations problems behaving like Americans who give a damn about the nation. This is the scary part. One would think that everyone would welcome honesty, discussion or real issues and problem into our political process rather than attack ads and stupidity by both major candidates. One thing that Perot did for this nation was focus the nation on it’s out of control national debt and made the debt a national issue and forced both political party’s to deal with the debt in the 90′s. We now see today since there is no one else but the major two candidates that the debt has now skyrocketed to $15.6 Trillion in which we are all on the hook plus the $30 Trillion the Federal Reserve has dumped into the econmy in which we the tax payers are on the hook for. What a sad nation when ideaology take precedence over realty with honest solutions and disccusion. I am all for more people being allowed in the process since both have proven to be failures and have given us the tax payers this mess we are in.

Very good post, savetheusa. Time to cut down on all the vitriol and get back to what is the most important issue getting our financial house in order.And speaking of money, I am really getting tired of people saying that Romney is so rich that he just can’t help but be out-of-touch. Total bullshit! You never heard anyone criticize John Kerry (who served in VietNam) for being too wealthy, and he’s a whole lot richer!!

Same-same politics. That has got to change, as we are in a collision course with catastrophe. It is not that the inmates have taken over the asylum, but that the psychopaths are taking over both government and finanace.

great post savetheusa; i agree with everything you said. The two party system, both looking into each side of a mirror and seeing the same thing. It doesn’t matter who’s at the helm, the two party system is killing us. We need a viable third party. I am hoping Ron Paul runs against Obama / Romney. He is the best available candidate.
The top 5% of the money is ruling and all the politicians are their puppets.
I don’t see Paul and a puppet. He’s been too consistent in his message.

I was in Louisana when Roemer was governor and he was known for wearing a rubber band around his wrist and snapping it when he had a negative thought. He is a nice guy but has no chance of being president. He can only hurt Romney.